The Drilldown: Construction of Keystone XL lags due to U.S. ruling on dredging

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The Lead

Chief U.S. District Judge Brian Morris rejected a request yesterday made by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers asking him to reduce the sentence made on Nationwide Permit 12 on April 15. Last month, Morris overruled an environmental permit that would allow dredging on pipelines to be performed for the construction of the Keystone XL oil project.

According to Morris, the Army Corps did not participate in proper consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service when the permit was originally renewed back in 2017 and continuing project development “could seriously injure projects species and critical habitat,” reports Reuters.

Morris did make make changes to the original ruling, giving the go-ahead to the construction of electric transmission lines.

Internationally

Saudi Arabia’s national oil company Saudi Aramco experienced a 25-per-cent drop in profit in the first three months of 2020, but through this loss was still able to retain a US$18.74-billion dividend, leaving the company on track to meet its yearly objective of US$75 billion, according BNN Bloomberg.

The United States is growing more weary of British Columbia-based coal mines and the effect that the watershed coming from Elk Lake is having on its rivers. In a letter addressed to the province’s Environment Minister George Heyman, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency requests data from the province to explain how Teck Resources Inc. has been able to bypass the regulations that have been put in place to properly manage its coal.

“The EPA… finds it unacceptable that the province has accepted [a treatment] plan that will allow seasonal exceedances of water quality objectives into the future,” reads the letter.

According to reports, the selenium concentrations that are found in the waterways running off the coal mines are up to four times the maximum that B.C. has set for its drinking water standard. The levels are also 50 times over what is recommended for the health of aquatic wildlife, findings from monitoring stations show. So far, selenium has been found in an area of the Kootenai River, which the EPA brought to light in their letter.